Just a quickie today. I've been extremely busy but I managed to get some angel wings tatted last night for a family member. It's from Vida Sunderman's book that I've mentioned before. She actually has a tatted angel in the book but I just tatted the wings in size 50 DMC cordonnette. She cut and ties each round but I climbed out of the first round with a mock picot followed by a split ring. Then I climbed out of that round with a split chain. It's really pretty easy without the climbing out.

If you look closely you can see where I made a mistake at the beginning. On one wing, I started out with a ring of 8 picots with only 1 ds between. The directions actually say to use 2 ds, and I caught that on the second wing.

I'm nearly done with the tatted bridal hanky but don't have a photo handy to show. I also got a personalized card from Tami at Angelic Creations to put the hanky in. I'll show it later too.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

More twin butterflies! These are tatted in Manuela size 20. I found it easier to hide the ends with a bigger thread but I think it would be even easier if these were sewn on something...or like the last ones - I glued them to a card so I should have just cut the ends close and sealed them with glue.

Clearly yesterday was not a good posting day for me. I found the humorous story I adapted to tatting on a website or blog that I found from a link from a link from a link...and an old entry at that. I couldn't find it again if I tried. Where it was posted, the comments indicated it was good to pass around.

WRONG!

It never occured to me to try to find the original author since it was nearly 10 years old, but I made sure her name was there because I always give credit when I know where to give it.

At any rate, everything is now deleted but it's a shame I couldn't share the story.

But that's what NATA is all about....our stories. The crazy things we do for our love of tatting. I'm NATA #67 if you go to read the stories. Mine is 6 years old - I could certainly add to it at this point!

Very shortly, I'm leaving for another bridal shower, the last! I do love tearooms though and I'm looking forward to it, plus I'm going over to Greenfield afterwards to meet up with a friend I haven't seen in months. The weather is perfect too.

5 weeks and 5 days til the wedding & 59 days til the cruise!!!!!!!

Tea Leaf Readings! (which I teafed from the Art Tea Life blogsite links)

I like it when I can associate a memory with something I own. I got this teacup and saucer from the last Tat Day I went to in Greenfield. (2007) And the teapot is from a tea-for-one that I bought while in Montana, after visiting at Bobbie Demmer's workshop.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sorry folks, humor removed at original author's request.

I think these are the teensiest flutters I've ever tatted. The pattern, Butterfly Twins, is by Eliz Davis. The thread is King Tut, color 944. I'm working up another set in size 20 thread. It's about twice as big!

Veronica should have received her package last Monday so I'll go ahead and post the tatting for her. It seems like 90% of my tatting these days can't be shown for one reason or another. Anyway, This is another of Eliz Davis's patterns which was just before the butterfly twins on her blog and was also featured in Georgia's online class. One of her variations shows the bear holding something so I decided to put a heart button between its paws. I think if I tat it again that I'll put seed beads in the eye rings.

Veronica likes blues and purples so I used a bright cobalt blue Aida thread to make this shuttle bag. I put a hat button on the drawstring ribbon and it looks hat ties. LOL!

Of course if you have a shuttle bag, you need a shuttle to put in it. This is a Susan Bates "aero-type" shuttle. I only decorated the top but it was a fun project.

I also made another dragon and gave this one to Veronica. I used Aida size 20 black and loaded it with beads. It came out considerably larger than the lavender one I made earlier. I did measure it but the measurements are at home. I think it was around 4 1/2" - 5" both in height and width.

I'll probably get home too late tonight to tat. Bummer.

I found this cool idea for storing your brooches in a handy way at Craftystylish, which has lots of neat tips and tutorials.

Some comments about this form of display mentioned using thin mesh window-screen material instead of felt for earrings, or use a roll of rubberized shelf paper ... the kind with a pattern and small holes in it. It can be cut to fit inside a picture frame too, without the glass and works better with French Wire earrings than post. I'm thinking it would be a great way to show off tatting also.

A few years ago I bought a few shirts on ebay that featured an embroidered shuttle. The vendor was also able to embroider "Tatting Goddess" for a small addtional fee. I recently received this notice:

I am sending all of my former ebay customers a quick note to let you know that I now have my own website. You purchased a embroidered tatting shuttle shirt in the past. I have not been on ebay for a year now. I opened my own shop in the town I live in, and have just been concentrating on that. I hope that you were happy with your previous purchase and would like to purchase more items from me.

The website is here. I didn't see a specific reference anywhere about the embroidered shuttle but I'm sure you can contact her and ask. I'm still wearing the shirts. I only wear them to tatting events so they don't get a lot of wear and tear but they've held up to washing and drying quite well so far.

Blog surfing also led me to My Little Mochi which features a pdf version of the Origami Bag, which we referred to as the Dorset Bag a few years ago when Joy in Australia gave us instructions on how it was made. She didn't know the origin so she just named it "Dorset" for her own reference.

I got an additional side done on the hanky edging but have not had time to get back to it. I ended up designing one of the flowers for the Palmetto's fundraising book. I tried to avoid getting into that project because I really felt I didn't have time but ... whaddyaknow....I made it anyway. LOL!

I think Veronica might have her package by now and I can post the tatting done for that but it will have to wait until the next time.

Bridal hanky lace in progress. I had to refill the shuttle last night. I don't know why it is that I have to keep referring to the diagram. You would think I'd have it memorized by now but the picot count on each petal of each segment is different and I have to keep referring back. I don't want to make a mistake on this one. It's special. The bride wanted her "blue" in the hanky and I will thread a blue ribbon through the lace when it is done and attached to the hanky.

Inspiration

Collar/Shawl from 163.com

I really love this concept. I would not use this exact pattern but I love the way it drapes. It would work well on just about any kind of neckline, I think. The website only featured the photo. I don't know where the pattern originates from. The photo doesn't enlarge so I couldn't tell if it buttons onto the dress or if an attachment is included in the design.

And that reminds me...I haven't seen any tatted buttons for a long time. Another idea to put in the "someday" file.

Tara's August Mystery Motif!!!

My apologies Tara!

I did think there was another motif but there were only 3 in my photo album so I figured it must have been umi&tsuru. I remember now that I opened the email at work and didn't want to save it on the computer there since all my photos were at home, but then forgot to save it at home! On top of that, I even commented on the pretty thread and Tara responded saying it is Omega size 30, color #1380.

Ah well...now she gets featured all by herself and gets to take center stage!

I'm off today, busy tatting and catching up with other things, including some blog-surfing. I was checking out the tutorials on Sunshine's blog and found her square yo-yo tutorial. That led me to a square yo-yo template and the image of a quilt or wallhanging made up of square yo-yo's.

Okay...a day later...

Here's the original photo of the August mystery motif. It's from the October, 1925 issue of Needlecraft. I've used this page before. It has several motifs with supposedly matching edgings.

Does this look like a matching edging? LOL! It's the one they matched up with the motif but I thought another one on the same page looked more compatible. These look like a row of happy people dancing. I had a lot of trouble with the edging and you can see how mine is different, a little, from the original. I wonder if the stitch count is off because no matter how much I snugged up the chain around the rings, I could not get it to lay close. There are 5 stitches between picots on the ring and 8 stitches of chain between joins on the ring. I think 6 or 7 would work better but didn't try it yet.

This was my first attempt. It wasn't too bad but without the photo to refer to, I'm not sure how you know when to reverse work or not. The 2 rings on top of each other caused confusion for more than one person.

Here's the sample from Mary Harris of Avon, IN. She did a good job but she did say she had to read through it several times to get it sorted out.

Here is a colorful one by Umi n Tsuru.

This is Jane Eborall's sample. Where does she find time to try something like this between roly poly bags and Christmas trees and sequin motifs??? Jane struggled a bit too. You may have seen the pile of threads on her blog when she mentioned it.

This is the one I tatted today with updated directions, which follow. Feel free to email me with any questions.

All picots are small joining picots until the last round.
All joins are lock joins since most of the work is chain work.

Medallion
1. Center ring 3 (-3) 7 times, clr, mock picot
2. R 8 – 8, clr, rw
3. Ch 11, lj (lock join) to p on prev r, tp (tiny joining picot) ch 11, lj to base of prev r
This appears to be an onion ring. If you prefer to make onion rings with an outer ring instead of a chain, you can do so. The number of stitches and the join should be in the same place. Just make sure you are going continually around the center ring.
4. Ch 2, lj to next p on first r, tp, ch 2, lj to next p on 1st r,
Repeat from step #2 around to last ch 2, lj, tp,ch 2.. Here you have another choice to make. If you know how to make a split chain, attach the thread to the base of the 1st ring and work 2 chain stitches back to the joining picot. You are now in position for the next element.

If you don’t know how to do split chains, you can end ch 2, lj to p, tp ch 2, lj to base of 1st ring and cut & tie. You will attach the thread to the last picot. You could also stop at the picot, ignore the last ch 2, which will leave a small bare space, and begin the next element where you just lock joined in the picot.

5. Ch 8 – 6 lj to tp at top of onion ring, tp, 6 – 8, lj in tp between ch 2 segments between onion rings. Continue around to the last ch 8 and make another choice. You can make another split chain by attaching the thread to the picot where the round started and work 8 stitches back. This will be the point to start the next element.

If you don’t know how to do split chains, ch 8 and lj in picot where round started, cut & tie. You will need to reattach thread to last picot of the last ch (between ch 6 and ch 8).

The picots on this last round are decorative so they can be as big or small as you like.

6. Ch 6 – 6, lj to 1st p of next ch, 7 – 6, jl next tp at top of onion r, 6 -7, lj next p. Repeat around, ending by lj where rnd 6 ch began. Cut & tie and hide ends.

I attempted the edging earlier but had trouble even with the photo. Today I sat down and rewrote the instructions - twice. LOL! I don't know why they had them so complicated because it's really not hard to do once I had the ring going the right way. I did play around with the large ring picots. They have one picot in the center with a join although that's not how they had you make the picot. I skipped it for a few rings and then realized the last chain joined into that picot so I got it in the last ring. I rather like joining into 2 picots at the same time, but do whatever you want. That's the beauty of tatting....YOU get to choose.

Edging –

1. R 5-2-5-6-6, rw
2. Ch 8, lj to 1st p (the 2 small p should be on the opposite side of r) rw
3. R 5-5-5-5 (3 picots total), clr, rw
4. Ch 8, lj to 1st p of r just made, 2-2-2-1, lj to next p of r, 1-2-2-2, lj to 3rd p of r, 8, lj at base of r, 8 , lj to 2nd p of 1st r, rw
5. Make a ring like 1st made
6. Ch 8, lj to 1st p of r just made, ch 9, lj to last p of last large r made, 6 – 6 – 9, lj where 1st ch started, 8, lj to middle p of above r
7. Repeat from beginning of row, joining large rings by 1st and last picots., for length desired. Cut & tie.
8. Attach thread to middle picot of large ring, ch 8 – 8, j to middle p of next large r, ch 8-8, j to middle p of next large r, repeat to end.

August Blog Anniversary Winner!!!

Congratulations to Tami Drader of Washington!

As I was reading Bridge City Tatting a few days ago, I saw that Jeff used a craft X-stitch mouse pad to display tatting. For the longest time, I had the tatted strawberry in this mousepad I have at work with a rectangular window that originally housed a cheat sheet for a new computer system in place. I took the strawberry out when I taught it back in August and had not put anything else in but seeing Jeff's post got me to pull out the dragon-in-process and stick it in there to see how it will fit size-wise. I can also put a photo of my family in there, which is what I will probably ultimately do.

It took me four days to complete the dragon but not because it is hard or very big. I was just gone a lot, to a shower in Noblesville Friday night, staying overnight there and then traveling to another one in Ft. Wayne on Saturday. I was pretty tuckered when I got home last night and only worked on it a little bit. I finished it up this morning. The pattern comes from Anne at Nuperelle's blogspot. Like Ginny, I used regular split rings instead of single shuttle split rings. You eventually use 2 shuttles anyway so I'm not sure why it's created with SSSRs but as long as you know some kind of split ring, it's very easy. I'm chomping at the bit to make another with beads and without picots.

Original Jewelry Designs: Is It New or Just New to You?
This was a headline from the Beading Daily newsletter and I felt it was relevant to the tatting world too. One reason I post the vintage patterns is to show a bit of what has been done before. I don't want to squelch anyone's design potential but with so many pattern books out now, it's easy to be unaware of a pattern that has already been done which is similar or even exactly like your own. Even those who have been following the design explosion for years can overlook what exists simply because there is so much of it. I am amazed at how intricate and elaborate many of the old patterns are. It's pretty hard to come up with an entirely new edging or motif these days.

I was also reading the Lace-Loving-Librarian's blog the other day where she mentioned a kindle. Kindle? what the hell is that? So I googled it and found it's been out since last November. It sounds pretty good but I doubt that I will invest in it anytime soon. I'd like to hear more about it from users though.

I spent the afternoon at my oldest son's house for a cookout so I'm still pretty tired. Wanted to make a quick post before I possibly fall asleep though.

August Mystery Motif

I almost forgot! There is an edging that goes with this but I'll add it when the original motif is revealed.

Medallion

1. Make a center ring of 1 double knot, (picot, 3 double knots) 7 times, 2 double knots, close
2. Draw thread through 1st picot, make a ring of 8 double knots, picot, 8 double knots, close
3. A ring of 11 double knots, join to picot of ring just made, a single knot, picot, 11 double knots, join at base of ring, draw thread through next 2 picots, and
repeat until you have 4 double rings; after the 4th, draw thread through next picot.
4. Chain of 8 double knots, picot, 6 double knots, join to picot of 2d (outer) ring, 1 single knot, picot, 6 double knots, picot, 8 double knots, join to picot between rings;
5. Repeat around, joining last chain where 1st started.
6. Join to 1st picot of chain of last row, chain of 7 double knots, picot, 6 double knots, join to next picot (over top of ring), 6 double knots, picot, 7 double knots, join to next picot, chain of 6 double knots, picot, 6 double knots, join to 1st picot of next chain; repeat around.

Blog surfing took me to Craft Chi from In a Minute Ago for some glamour floss card holders. I thought they would be cool for a thread exchange. They don't HAVE to be used for embroidery thread! The Craft Chi link is to the January 7, 2008 entry showing the cards.

I also found a video library of embroidery stitches. There are 47 online video tutorials and the few I've watched have been very clear. There are also a number of embroidery patterns available.

Here are some of the results from the henna painting at the shower done by Heather at Little Fiddly Bits. This one was probably the most elaborate and the last one, on my sister's arm. She pretty much gave Heather free license to do whatever she wanted.

The foot of the bride-elect! The henna should last approximately 10 days,but that's just a general guideline. It depends on each individual's skin. My sister's barely showed up at all the next day. Mine is dark down my first finger but the rest is not easy to see. I haven't heard about anyone else's.

My daughter requested an African elephant. It turned out beautifully.

My granddaughter's hand. She was so pretty this day, with her naturally curly dark hair so shiny and framing her pretty face.

Heather also gave me the Henna Page website which has instructions on doing henna and tons of designs. I was so intrigued with her notebook of designs, which look so much like lace and inspired me tatting-wise AND Romanian Point Lace-wise. If you've checked into Lenore's blog lately, you know that she and I are doing a RPL exchange and she's ahead of me in the game, bum arm and all! I'm really liking the henna designs though and hope to come up with something from there.

I have to go shower gift shopping tonight but I hope to get home in time to get some tatting done. I've been working on something for Veronica that should have been done at the weekend, but the days tumble on!

No more Blogger Woes

Actually they ended early afternoon yesterday but I was gone most of yesterday from early evening on and had no reason to post. Went to see X-Files, I Want to Believe!

I was getting the error message that IE could not open the blog and this applied to two of my blogs and many others on blogger, but not all. It had nothing to do with my browser or my computer. I had checked out the blogger help site and knew all I could do was wait until they figured it out.

I think Blogger does a great job keeping things running considering the millions ? of blogs they host.

I had a problem with opening sitemeter for awhile too but that has been taken care of. I did put in new html code but it didn't make any difference. Again, it was the organization that made the fix.

I just wish there was a faster way to communicate problems like this. There was only one message on Blogger and it was a bit ambiguous. I finally found the page to report a problem, a forum, and saw that there were already several others reporting the very same issue so I relaxed and went on to other things.

Late last night I finally got started on Veronica's tatting. With a LOT of luck, I'll get her package off before I draw a new winner! And hey folks, I love doing this so don't think I regret it one bit. I just wish I had more hours in the day. Oh well..then I'd be wishing I could stay awake those extra hours. LOL!

I haven't had a chance to work on the mystery motif again but hopefully tonight. I tatted the motif and started the edging that goes with it. I think there is a problem with the edging so I need to sort that out before I post it. If nothing else, I'll post the motif and then when it's revealed I'll add the corrected edging as a bonus.

Today is the first bridal shower. I may post about it later. We're having a belly dancer!

Blogger Woes

I couldn't bring up this blog or another one I have last night. It seems Blogger has a problem with blogs being reported as spam. I hoped it would be over this morning but it looks like it's still going on.

This is actually a test to see if I can post.

....
Interesting...it published and I can see it shows, but I still get the message that internet explorer can't open it and I can't click on anything other then the IE message.